XeF Coordination Complexes of the [BrO] Cation, [OBr(FXeF)][AsF] ( = 1, 2) and [OBr(FXeF)][SbF]; Their Syntheses and Structural Characterizations.

The syntheses and structural characterizations of the first XeF coordination complexes of the [BrO] cation are described. The reactions of [BrO][PnF] (Pn = As, Sb) with XeF in anhydrous HF solvent yield the salts [OBr(FXeF)][AsF] ( = 1, 2) and [OBr(FXeF)][SbF], which were characterized by low-temperature (LT) Raman spectroscopy and single-crystal X-ray diffraction (SCXRD). The XeF ligands and [PnF] coordinate to the Lewis acidic [BrO] cation through primarily electrostatic Br---F σ-hole bonds that result from coordination of the F atoms into regions of high positive electrostatic potential on the Br(V) atom and have bond trajectories that avoid the stereoactive valence electron lone-pair of Br(V).

Kinematic Zenith Tropospheric Delay Estimation with GNSS PPP in Mountainous Areas.

The use of global navigation satellite systems (GNSS) precise point positioning (PPP) to estimate zenith tropospheric delay (ZTD) profiles in kinematic vehicular mode in mountainous areas is investigated. Car-mounted multi-constellation GNSS receivers are employed. The Natural Resources Canada Canadian Spatial Reference System PPP (CSRS-PPP) online service that currently processes dual-frequency global positioning system (GPS) and Global'naya Navigatsionnaya Sputnikovaya Sistema (GLONASS) measurements and is now capable of GPS integer ambiguity resolution is used.

Evaluation of a Low Cost Hand Held Unit with GNSS Raw Data Capability and Comparison with an Android Smartphone.

A newly available portable unit with GNSS raw data recording capability is assessed to determine static and kinematic position accuracy in various environments. This unit is the GPSMap 66, introduced by Garmin in early September. It is all-weather and robust for field use, and comes with a helix antenna.

Comparison between personal sampling methodologies for evaluating diesel particulate matter exposures in mines: submicron total carbon corrected for the adsorption of vapor-phase organic carbon vs. respirable total carbon.

In the mining industry, personal measurements of elemental and total carbon are frequently used as surrogates of diesel particulate matter (DPM) exposure, and the respirable or submicron fractions are usually measured. However, vapor-phase organic carbon (OC) can be adsorbed in the filters, interfering with total carbon results. This study presents a comparative evaluation between the submicron fraction of DPM concentrations corrected for the adsorption of the vapor-phase OC (dynamic blank), and the respirable fraction of DPM corrected for a field blank.

GNSS Code Multipath Mitigation by Cascading Measurement Monitoring Techniques.

Various measurement monitoring techniques are investigated to mitigate the effect of global navigation satellite systems (GNSS) code multipath through error correction, stochastic weighting of measurements and detection and exclusion (or de-weighting) of affected measurements. Following a comprehensive review of each approach, the paper focuses on detection/exclusion and detection/de-weighting techniques where several single and dual-frequency monitoring metrics are employed in a combination with time-averaging and the detection strategy. A new Geometry-Free (GF) detection metric is proposed given its capability to be combined with a preceding Code-Minus-Carrier (CMC)-based error correction to reduce the number of excluded or de-weighted measurements and thus preserve the measurement geometry.

Spoofing Detection Using GNSS/INS/Odometer Coupling for Vehicular Navigation.

Location information is one of the most vital information required to achieve intelligent and context-aware capability for various applications such as driverless cars. However, related security and privacy threats are a major holdback. With increasing focus on using Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) for autonomous navigation and related applications, it is important to provide robust navigation solutions, yet signal spoofing for illegal or covert transportation and misleading receiver timing is increasing and now frequent.

Design and Implementation of an RTK-Based Vector Phase Locked Loop.

This paper introduces a novel double-differential vector phase-locked loop (DD-VPLL) for Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) that leverages carrier phase position solutions as well as base station measurements in the estimation of rover tracking loop parameters. The use of double differencing alleviates the need for estimating receiver clock dynamics and atmospheric delays; therefore, the navigation filter consists of the baseline dynamic states only. It is shown that using vector processing for carrier phase tracking leads to a significant enhancement in the receiver sensitivity compared to using the conventional scalar-based tracking loop (STL) and vector frequency locked loop (VFLL).

Characterization of Signal Quality Monitoring Techniques for Multipath Detection in GNSS Applications.

The performance of Signal Quality Monitoring (SQM) techniques under different multipath scenarios is analyzed. First, SQM variation profiles are investigated as critical requirements in evaluating the theoretical performance of SQM metrics. The sensitivity and effectiveness of SQM approaches for multipath detection and mitigation are then defined and analyzed by comparing SQM profiles and multipath error envelopes for different discriminators.

Analysis of Multi-Antenna GNSS Receiver Performance under Jamming Attacks.

Although antenna array-based Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) receivers can be used to mitigate both narrowband and wideband electronic interference sources, measurement distortions induced by array processing methods are not suitable for high precision applications. The measurement distortions have an adverse effect on the carrier phase ambiguity resolution, affecting the navigation solution. Depending on the array attitude information availability and calibration parameters, different spatial processing methods can be implemented although they distort carrier phase measurements in some cases.

Millimetre Level Accuracy GNSS Positioning with the Blind Adaptive Beamforming Method in Interference Environments.

The use of antenna arrays in Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) applications is gaining significant attention due to its superior capability to suppress both narrowband and wideband interference. However, the phase distortions resulting from array processing may limit the applicability of these methods for high precision applications using carrier phase based positioning techniques. This paper studies the phase distortions occurring with the adaptive blind beamforming method in which satellite angle of arrival (AoA) information is not employed in the optimization problem.

GNSS space-time interference mitigation and attitude determination in the presence of interference signals.

The use of Space-Time Processing (STP) in Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) applications is gaining significant attention due to its effectiveness for both narrowband and wideband interference suppression. However, the resulting distortion and bias on the cross correlation functions due to space-time filtering is a major limitation of this technique. Employing the steering vector of the GNSS signals in the filter structure can significantly reduce the distortion on cross correlation functions and lead to more accurate pseudorange measurements.

Precise calibration of a GNSS antenna array for adaptive beamforming applications.

The use of global navigation satellite system (GNSS) antenna arrays for applications such as interference counter-measure, attitude determination and signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) enhancement is attracting significant attention. However, precise antenna array calibration remains a major challenge. This paper proposes a new method for calibrating a GNSS antenna array using live signals and an inertial measurement unit (IMU).

A new approach for improving reliability of personal navigation devices under harsh GNSS signal conditions.

In natural and urban canyon environments, Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) signals suffer from various challenges such as signal multipath, limited or lack of signal availability and poor geometry. Inertial sensors are often employed to improve the solution continuity under poor GNSS signal quality and availability conditions. Various fault detection schemes have been proposed in the literature to detect and remove biased GNSS measurements to obtain a more reliable navigation solution.

Use of high sensitivity GNSS receiver Doppler measurements for indoor pedestrian dead reckoning.

Dead-reckoning (DR) algorithms, which use self-contained inertial sensors combined with gait analysis, have proven to be effective for pedestrian navigation purposes. In such DR systems, the primary error is often due to accumulated heading drifts. By tightly integrating global navigation satellite system (GNSS) Doppler measurements with DR, such accumulated heading errors can usually be accurately compensated.

Motion mode recognition and step detection algorithms for mobile phone users.

Microelectromechanical Systems (MEMS) technology is playing a key role in the design of the new generation of smartphones. Thanks to their reduced size, reduced power consumption, MEMS sensors can be embedded in above mobile devices for increasing their functionalities. However, MEMS cannot allow accurate autonomous location without external updates, e.

Step length estimation using handheld inertial sensors.

In this paper a novel step length model using a handheld Micro Electrical Mechanical System (MEMS) is presented. It combines the user's step frequency and height with a set of three parameters for estimating step length. The model has been developed and trained using 12 different subjects: six men and six women.

Design and testing of a multi-sensor pedestrian location and navigation platform.

Navigation and location technologies are continually advancing, allowing ever higher accuracies and operation under ever more challenging conditions. The development of such technologies requires the rapid evaluation of a large number of sensors and related utilization strategies. The integration of Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSSs) such as the Global Positioning System (GPS) with accelerometers, gyros, barometers, magnetometers and other sensors is allowing for novel applications, but is hindered by the difficulties to test and compare integrated solutions using multiple sensor sets.

Use of Earth's magnetic field for mitigating gyroscope errors regardless of magnetic perturbation.

Most portable systems like smart-phones are equipped with low cost consumer grade sensors, making them useful as Pedestrian Navigation Systems (PNS). Measurements of these sensors are severely contaminated by errors caused due to instrumentation and environmental issues rendering the unaided navigation solution with these sensors of limited use. The overall navigation error budget associated with pedestrian navigation can be categorized into position/displacement errors and attitude/orientation errors.

Data fusion algorithms for multiple inertial measurement units.

A single low cost inertial measurement unit (IMU) is often used in conjunction with GPS to increase the accuracy and improve the availability of the navigation solution for a pedestrian navigation system. This paper develops several fusion algorithms for using multiple IMUs to enhance performance. In particular, this research seeks to understand the benefits and detriments of each fusion method in the context of pedestrian navigation.

Inducible packaging cells for large-scale production of lentiviral vectors in serum-free suspension culture.

We have developed new packaging cell lines (293SF-PacLV) that can produce lentiviral vectors (LVs) in serum-free suspension cultures. A cell line derived from 293SF cells, expressing the repressor (CymR) of the cumate switch and the reverse transactivator (rtTA2(S)-M2) of the tetracycline (Tet) switch, was established first. We next generated clones stably expressing the Gag/Pol and Rev genes of human immunodeficiency virus-1, and the glycoprotein of vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV-G).

Acute acidification or amiloride treatment suppresses the ability of Hsp70 to inhibit heat-induced apoptosis.

Inhibition of stress-induced apoptosis by the molecular chaperone protein Hsp70 is a contributing factor in tumorigenesis and suppression of this ability could increase the effectiveness of anti-tumor therapy. Tumor cells exist in an acidic environment and acute acidification can sensitize tumor cells to heat-induced cell death. However, the ability of Hsp70 to prevent apoptosis under these conditions has not been examined.

Hsp70 inhibits heat-induced apoptosis upstream of mitochondria by preventing Bax translocation.

Hsp70 overexpression can protect cells from stress-induced apoptosis. Our previous observation that Hsp70 inhibits cytochrome c release in heat-stressed cells led us to examine events occurring upstream of mitochondrial disruption. In this study we examined the effects of heat shock on the proapoptotic Bcl-2 family member Bax because of its central role in regulating cytochrome c release in stressed cells.

Adenoviral-expressed GP5 of porcine respiratory and reproductive syndrome virus differs in its cellular maturation from the authentic viral protein but maintains known biological functions.

The ORFs 5, 6 and 7, encoding for the three major structural proteins, GP(5), M and N, of the IAF-Klop strain of PRRSV were cloned and expressed in 293 cells using replication-defective human type 5 adenoviral vectors (hAdVs). Although the M protein gene could be cloned into hAdVs and expressed constituvely in 293 cells under the control of the hCMV immediate early promotor/enhancer, hAdVs expressing N and GP(5) proteins, which appeared to be toxic or interfered with adenovirus replication, could only be generated by inclusion of a tetracycline-regulatable promotor in the transfer vector pAdTR5. The recombinant (rec) proteins appeared similar to the authentic viral proteins in regards to their M(r)s and antigenicities.

Microbiological Quality of Tofu and Related Products in Canada.

One hundred and fifty-three samples of tofu, related products, and environmental samples comprising 346 sample units were collected from 14 manufacturers across Canada. They were analyzed for coliforms, Salmonella , Yersinia , Staphylococcus aureus , and psychrotrophs. Although S.